Punjab Sports Department conducts skill & physical tests but no coaching test for candidates

Indervir Grewal

Chandigarh, July 11

The blue turf at Mohali’s hockey stadium was teeming with activity. At first glance, it looked like any ordinary trials. More than 100 hockey players were divided into small groups and asked to demonstrate basic skills like hitting, pushing and receiving.

A closer look, though, revealed that it was anything but ordinary — men and women were grouped together and many of the aspirants were in their thirties, hardly looking the part of an active sportsperson.

This exercise was, in fact, a part of the trials to recruit contractual coaches for the sports nurseries planned by the Punjab Government. Over 900 applicants have turned up for the 10-day trials held in Mohali.

On the turf, aspirants for the hockey coaches’ jobs were undergoing skill tests. Everyone got five tries each at hitting, pushing, receiving and executing an aerial pass. Each successful execution got a tick mark and every failure a cross from the evaluators — in this case, senior coaches with the sports department and the Punjab Institute of Sports. “At the end, we add up the tick marks and divide it by the total to get the success rate of each person,” said Gurdeep Singh, one of the hockey evaluators.

In the morning, the same set of aspirants had undergone physical tests at the multipurpose stadium a few kilometres away. It included a 30m sprint, a 1,600m run and a broad jump. “Obviously, a 25-year-old will perform better than a 35-year-old,” said an athletics coach overseeing the physical tests.

These tests carry points and will add up to the final score, which will also include points for educational qualification and sporting achievements.

“International and national medallists will be given weightage, which means genuine sportspersons will get the benefit of this scheme,” said Parminder Singh, deputy director in the sports department.

Little coaching experience

Ironically, though, the trials don’t include a test to check the aspirants’ coaching ability. “We had suggested that the applicants should be asked to make a coaching plan and then oversee a 15-minute session to check their coaching ability,” a hockey coach said.

Most of the evaluators have been working in the state for years, which means they were familiar with most of the applicants’ coaching experience. “Very few of the applicants have a coaching diploma from the NIS and even fewer have any coaching experience,” said an athletics coach.

No wonder a group of candidates looked stumped when senior hockey coach and evaluator Avtar Singh asked them about the principles of pushing. “Knowing how to push or hit a ball is one thing but teaching it is completely different,” he said.

The deputy director said that the selected candidates will undergo coaching clinics from the senior coaches before they are sent to their centres.

But most of the coaches argued that a few clinics cannot make up for actual experience. “I agree that every person has to start somewhere, but an untrained coach is not the right option for a nursery, where young trainees take their first steps,” said an athletics coach. “You need your most technically qualified coaches, who have a good grasp of the basics, at the grassroots. If a trainee is taught incorrect technique at a young age, it is very difficult to correct the flaws after a certain age. Then there is overtraining, which can stunt growth or even end a career due to an injury,” the coach added.